A terrorist, said to be part of the group that attacked civilians in Dhangari village earlier this year, was killed during an operation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri on Saturday as Defense Minister Rajnath Singh visited an army base and reviewed the overall situation. Took stock of the security situation. ,
Another terrorist was also feared injured in the early morning encounter at Kesari hill in Jangli Kandi area during ‘Operation Trinetra’, which was launched a day after five army men were killed and a major rank officer was injured. A search party in Kandi forest.
“In an ongoing joint operation by the Indian Army in coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF in Kandi Forest, Rajouri Sector, at about 7 am, while laying siege, terrorists were spotted and gunned down.
Jammu-based Army Public Relations Officer Lt Col Devender Anand said, “One terrorist was killed in the encounter and one terrorist is likely to be injured.”
An AK-56 rifle, four magazines, 56 rounds, a 9 mm pistol, three magazines and three grenades were recovered from the slain terrorist, whose identity and group affiliation were not immediately known, he said.
The People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), the shadow outfit of Jaish-e-Mohammed, has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack.
Officials said the search operation has been extended to the surrounding areas with fresh reinforcements from the army and police to plug the escape routes. However, no fresh contact has been made with the absconding terrorist.
Officials said the operation is going on despite the inclement weather. The body of the slain terrorist has been removed from the spot and its postmortem has also been done.
Officials said some people from Bathuni village called to identify the slain terrorist said he was part of a group that was active in the area and believed to be behind the January 1 Dhangri attack, in which seven civilians were killed. were killed and many others injured.
In the last 18 months, terrorists have killed 35 people, including 26 soldiers, in eight attacks in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch.
Defense Minister Singh, accompanied by Army Chief General Manoj Pandey and Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, reached the Ace of Spades Division Headquarters in Rajouri in the afternoon after a brief stay in Jammu.
Officials said they also interacted with the soldiers engaged in the ongoing operation against the terrorists.
Officials said Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, Corps Commander of White Knight Corps and Jammu Divisional Commissioner are also accompanying Rajnath to Rajouri.
He said that after getting information about the operation in Kandi forest, the Defense Minister chaired a high-level security meeting to review the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir, especially Rajouri and Poonch, before returning to Jammu.
Earlier in the day, Lt Gen Dwivedi visited the encounter site and was briefed about the developments in ‘Operation Trinetra’.
Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu, which were declared militancy-free more than a decade ago, have been rocked by a series of deadly attacks since October 2021.
Martyrdom of five jawans in Kandi forest is the third major incident of this year. This comes at a time when the army is engaged in a massive search operation for the last 15 days after an army truck was ambushed in Bhata Dhurian (Poonch).
On April 20, an army truck carrying fruits and vegetables for Iftar was bombed and gunned down by terrorists, killing five soldiers and injuring another.
Over 250 people were detained for questioning during the search operation in the wake of the incident. He said that six activists who had given full support to the terrorists have been arrested.
According to military officials, the terrorists have now adopted the strategy of engaging troops or attacking people and then planting improvised explosive devices to harm the security forces engaged in the search operation.
The same happened in Rajouri’s Dhangari village, where terrorists killed seven civilians in two attacks on January 1 this year.
In two major incidents in Rajouri in 2022, five army personnel and two terrorists were killed in a suicide attack on a security camp in Pargal-Darhal on 11 August, while two civilians were killed in a shootout outside an army camp near Rajouri town Went.
Apart from the eight major attacks, four smaller blasts took place at Kotranka in Rajouri district between March and April last year. The police have solved all these cases with the arrest of the accused.
In October 2021, nine army personnel were killed in two separate encounters with terrorists at Bhatta Durrian in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district.
On October 30, 2021, two army personnel, one of whom was a lieutenant, were killed in a mine blast in Nowshera sector of Rajouri. Rajouri and Poonch districts have seen more casualties of army personnel than the insurgency-hit Kashmir Valley.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)